36 appointments now confirmed for October’s ‘white domaines’ report – a few more are still open, but that would be fine for the report.
Some images for you that are mainly Pommard and Meursault – reflecting more where I ran, than where I actually tasted 😉
Today was the first real day of my 2018 tasting campaign – 2018 Whites for my October Report – starting and finishing (late) in Puligny-Montrachet. So far I’ve over 30 appointments booked for October and I’m still waiting for responses from about 20 more – if I get at least 10 of those, I’ll be happy.
I hit the road early from Bern, enjoying the rain all the way to D̫le Рbut it was particularly bracing around Besan̤on where the speed of the windscreen-wipers needed some augmentation! Almost magically, from D̫le onwards, and for my whole day in the C̫te de Beaune, it was dry. Well, maybe not completely dry underfoot when jogging through the vines of Chassagne at lunchtime!
Tomorrow is a lite day, but Wednesday to Friday will keep me much busier.
Mont Blanc far in the distance, on the right shoulder (as you look) is Chamonix – somewhere!
Mont Blanc was showing well in the sunshine today – all 30°C worth of sun – not bad for the end of September.
I also saw some of the last pickers of the 2019 harvest today – in the hills above Fleurie – the hinterland behind Fleurie’s La Madone – it must be cooler here, everything else looked picked. The wind was gusting in the late afternoon – as we arrived back in Beaune, in the early evening, all was grey and a little damp – the wind had followed us!
A cool day temperature-wise – but also lots of cool things to see – the sun showing beautifully in the late afternoon:
Inside the restored cabotte of Beaune Clos des Ursules
Plus a couple of pics from a nice evening run from Beaune to Bligny-lès-Beaune to Pommard and back through the vines to Beaune, catching the last rays of the sun!
1999 Gilles Remoriquet, Vosne-Romanée 1er Au Dessus des Malconsorts
Typical – but we all know this feeling! I’ve only 2 or 3 more from this case of 12 and this was easily the best of all!
Typical 1999, but aromatically and from a flavour perspective – yes there’s depth, but this is a wine of line and of energy, rather than a spreading width of texture. Really, clean as a whistle, vibrant and with a fine complexity. My better half prefers young wine, but she took a second glass of this!
Rebuy – Yes
2017 JJ Confuron, Côte de Nuits Villages Au Leurey
Plenty of depth to the colour for this 2017. The nose is deep and attractively fresh fruited – almost to the point of suggesting a little CO2 – but the palate shows no carbonated grain. In the mouth – woosh – deep, lots of energy and just a little plushness to the texture – delicious ripe but fresh young fruit – I don’t mind if I do take a second glass – again! Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes
A little 33°C walking around Beaune on Saturday.
The grapes are generally very small here too – of-course a little coulure at flowering has, in some cases, contributed, but generally, it is the dry of the year that is responsible. Maturities are “all over the place,” one vigneronne told me – “My whites in Puligny are no-where near ready.” That pretty much means that people can be starting to harvest anywhere between the 10th and 20th of September. This week’s average of 30°C days will take a dip next week, with closer to mid-20°s – But it is September already, and people were already harvesting in the last 2 vintages! Storms were forecast for yesterday but I only saw one or two flashes of lightning.
I suppose it’s just a normal summer temperature, but it was pretty hot walking around Vosne this afternoon – in a mere 30°C…
The grapes look to be nicely clean, with very little that was shrivelled – but they are so small! Of course, there’s still about 2 weeks before they will be harvested, and like in politics, much can change in that time, but I haven’t seen grapes this small since the 2010 vintage!
August is the long pause between domaine visits and the harvest to come. Although it’s been patchy, the rain has brought more balance to the vines and even the grapes are starting to grow a little – the vineyards are currently mainly free from maladies – oïdium remains a constant worry, but largely just that – and, for the moment, only the southern part of Beaujolais has seen significant hail this year.
We took the trip to Beaune this weekend in order to celebrate my Mum’s 75th birthday – she’d not visited before and loved her time there. The weather was quite warm so we didn’t venture far – the bars, the restaurants and of course a few bottles:
Most of these bottles have graced these diary pages a number of times this year, but the 2015 Domaine Monthelie Douhairet Porcheret, Monthelie did nothing to dissuade my view that this domaine should be much better known. Another from that vintage, the 2015 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses, was even better – as itr should be – with a beautiful layered depth of fine, balanced, flavour – it was a treat.
The pause continues…
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